Move to defund Obamacare could actually sway the public in its favor

The federal government is running out of money again, and Congress needs to pass legislation to fund the 2014 fiscal year, which starts in October. Thus, Congress and the president will soon be debating whether to raise the limit on the nation’s credit card.

Conservative Republicans see the coming debt limit and federal funding debate as an opportunity to pull the financial rug out from under Obamacare.

Led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, they say they’re prepared to shut the government down rather than authorize any money to implement the health care reform law.

Pressure mounted this week, when over 50 conservative organizations and luminaries wrote a letter to House Republicans urging them to use the government spending bill to defund Obamacare.

“The ultimate ‘power of the purse’ still resides in the House,” the letter reads, “and the House will soon act to fund the government. In doing so, the House should include language ensuring that no more taxpayer dollars can be used to implement Obamacare.

“This funding prohibition should include all Obamacare funding streams, both discretionary and mandatory, and it should eliminate funding for Obamacare’s new entitlements.

“This will effectively halt implementation and enforcement of the law in its entirety, and will give the President and Senate Democrats a choice: Continue funding the government, or shut down the government on behalf of an unpopular law that they have admitted will not work and cannot be enforced as written.”

We appreciate the spirit of the argument. Obamacare is opposed by a majority of Americans: support for it is in the 30th percentile and opposition to it is in the 50th percentile in most polls.

And that doesn’t begin to explain the growing unpopularity of Obamacare. Perhaps this does: A week after three major labor unions warned of the destruction of the middle class by Obamacare, the National Treasury Employees Union asked its members to write their elected representatives in Congress to oppose their being included in Obamacare health-care exchanges.

The union’s membership might interest you: It includes employees at the IRS, the very agency charged with enforcing the law!

That’s when you know you’re losing the crowd.

But despite all this, we’re not sure Obamacare is sufficiently unpopular that Republicans will look like heroes to much of the public by blocking it – particularly if they have to shut down a good bit of the federal government to get that done.

The last big government shutdown, in the 1990s, was a public relations disaster for congressional Republicans. There’s no reason to think it wouldn’t be this time, either. Consider: The main result of the GOP blockade of Obamacare would be to deny many folks of its benefits, including subsidies that begin Jan. 1, to millions of voting-age Americans.

The former mainstream media would no doubt savage Republicans for doing so, and for shutting down nonessential portions of the government.

The principal effect might be to make Obamacare more popular than it deserves to be, and to ensure Democratic control of the Senate in next year’s midterm elections. It might even endanger Republicans’ hold on the House, too, according to Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., perhaps the party’s leading fiscal hawk.

“I’d be leading the charge if I thought this would work. But it will not work,” Coburn was quoted this week. “The strategy that has been laid out is a good way for Republicans to lose the House. I’m getting phone calls from Oklahoma saying, ‘Support Mike Lee,’ and I’m ramming right back: ‘Support him in destroying the Republican Party?’”

It does appear to be a suicide pact.

The best course, in our view, is for House Republicans to vote to defund Obamacare – so they can once again say “I told you so” – but not to make it their Alamo.

It may be a form of assisted suicide, but Republicans had their chance to win over voters in last year’s elections and failed. All that may remain may be for the electorate to take its bitter medicine – and for conservatives to pick up the pieces later, if there are any.

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Obamacare will leave 30 million people still uninsured. So basically we've improved nothing, doubled to tripled the cost of private health insurance, caused employers to drop their employer provided insurance, caused more unemployment and full time jobs cut to part time, and severely lowered the quality and timeliness of getting care by driving experienced doctors into retirement.

Now tell me again why Obamacare is such a good idea. We've fixed nothing, we've hurt plenty, and will pay more for it. We've made health care WORSE and driven the costs HIGHER for 85% of the people. We've got almost as many left uninsured as we did before we started. We could have accomplished more by simply opening up interstate competition and mandating that insurance could not be canceled because of serious illness.

Look T3, waivers has been granted to unions, now delays to business, exemptions to congress etc. face facts, this law is garbage!! The Republicans should fund it to the with cuts in funding for ANY waiver, exemption or delay. PERIOD

I am sure some of you will understand what I am about to say. I hate that I may very well have ended what COULD HAVE been a great friend-ship today !! I may very well have made someone very angry when I thought "TO BE TOTALLY HONEST" would have been THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION !! This person knows who I am talking about, and I will end by telling her, "I was truly, truly happy when I thought we were friends AND PERHAPS not all is lost if we are willing to look at things with a truly opened mind !! If this is not possible, then IS TRULY A BIG LOSS for me, and I truly mean that, ABSOLUTELY NO KIDDING !!"

Corgimom, PLEASE, EVERYBODY knew this was a lie. You simply do not have RPGs, machine guns and coordinated military attacks during a demonstration! Obama was pushing his "GM's alive Al Qada is dead for his reelection. This attack didn't fit Obama's narrative so lies were told. The REAL issue is why the ambassador and embassy were not better guarded! The British had pulled out because of the instability, the US ambassador had requested more security and was denied! So explain to Mr why an obvious BS lie is OK?

Was further security at the American embassy denied because it would ruin Obama's narrative about Al Qada being on it's heels and embarrass Obama about his most excellent adventure in Lybia? You know, helping overthrow a government then having Al Qada make a strong presents there!

You got it ! In addition, all decisions made before,during and after the attack were made for "political" reasons because of the election. I would most like to know who issued the "stand down" orders. America never abandons its people that are under attack. I think this stand down order came from Obama because he did not want to risk losing many special force soldiers in a fail rescue attempt so close to his reelection. Some commander and chief !